Who’s gonna drive you home tonight?

Writing prompt: Write about a memorable drive you’ve taken (with you or someone else behind the wheel).

Late summer, 2005:

My Aunt & Cousin were visiting from California for a few weeks that summer. We decided to take a late night drive down the road a few miles to Little Prairie Lake. My mom was driving, my Aunt Marcie was in the passenger seat, and my cousin Darah, my brother and I were in the backseat. My mom brought along a CD (which I had just burned) because she really wanted to listen to a certain song. She didn’t tell us which song, we were going to find out when she played it… but the dang CD wouldn’t work for some odd reason! So.. we gave up and just talked and told stories while driving down the dark country road with the windows down. We got to Little Prairie Lake and sat there with the car off and windows down. We were talking about my mom’s sister, who passed away about 10 years ago. We were talking about spirits and other crazy stories that come up with my Aunt Marcie. She is the most interesting person I know, full of stories and adventures. Out of no where, all of the interior lights of the car quickly turned on and off again. I broke the silence and said, “Mom, did you do that?” She replied, “No I did not touch anything!” We were all a little freaked out; I rolled my windows up and I think we started back on the road. None of us in the car had touched the lights. So then on the way back home, my mom decided to try the CD again. The song worked this time! The Cars came on singing the song Drive….. “Who’s gonna tell you when.. It’s too late? Who’s gonna tell you things.. Aren’t so great?” My Aunt Marcie said, “This is the song you wanted to hear?!? This is the song we listened to on repeat the whole trip to Missouri. I cried while listening to it and I don’t know why!”

WOW, how strange!! My mom didn’t know why she wanted to listen to it either. The mile we had left to our house was full of some tears, many thoughts running through our heads of what just happened, and the sound of music playing. It’s hard to even retell this story because it’s one of those times where you just had to be there to experience it in its fullness.